The present invention relates to a heater device for heating the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.
The passenger compartment or cabin of a motor vehicle is generally heated by a heat source employing the cooling water of the internal combustion engine on the motor vehicle.
However, in cold weather, it takes time to increase the temperature of the cooling water, and hence the compartment cannot be heated quickly.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-157422 discloses a vehicle heater device in which fuel is combusted by a burner separate from the internal combustion engine and heat generated by the fuel combustion is recovered by a heat exchanger to supply heating air into the compartment.
The disclosed vehicle heater device can produce warm air in the compartment in cold weather. However, since the heater device is manually started by the driver, the driver still feels uncomfortable when getting into the compartment which is not yet warmed.
There is a strong demand in recent years for comfortable passenger compartments or cabins of motor vehicles, and hence a vehicle heater device which warms the passenger compartment before the driver gets into the motor vehicle.